The invention disclosed herein relates to a
multi-function switch assembly and use of the switch assembly to control mobile storage units.
Movable storage systems comprise a series of storage units which have shelves or bins, for example, and are movable on tracks to create an access aisle between two of the units and to establish the others in close side-by-side relationship to minimize the amount of floor space required for the units. Movements of the units to open and closed aisles are usually controlled by push button switches which are affiliated with variously colored light sources which indicate the operational status of the mobile storage units to the user. The push button switches are conventionally made up as individual switches and so are the light switches which were mounted to a microprocessor based logic and control module which was also set in an end wall of the storage unit behind the push button and indicator light assembly. The conventional arrangement required a considerable amount of hard wiring of the individual switches and light sources during construction of the storage units. In the conventional arrangement, when an indicator light of a particular color turned on, the user would have to remember what one or more of the energized lights was intended to indicate and would also have to relate ]t to the direction in which the storage units were moving in the process of either opening or closing an aisle between units.